Abandoned Groves: A Clear And Present Danger
November 1, 2008 
As citrus greening and canker spread, the debate over abandoned groves has heated up. But up until recently, no one had a good measure on the scope of the problem. That changed when USDA released an estimate on the number of acres in Florida that are abandoned.
In conjunction with the biennial tree census to update records of active commercial groves, additional information was collected on abandoned citrus acreage. Since counties or portions of counties without commercial citrus may not have been visited, these numbers do not represent the total on all abandoned acres. More accurate numbers could be attained with additional surveys for this purpose. Results of this first survey include 129,869 abandoned acres and 1,671 acres of understory citrus for a total of 131,540.
Taxing Issue
According to Florida Citrus Mutual (FCM) Vice President and CEO Mike Sparks, the large acreage of abandoned groves is a clear and present danger to the citrus industry. He believes taxes may be the best route to address the problem.
“Ongoing research shows us that abandoned groves serve as active breeding grounds for the pest and diseases that plague our industry such as canker and HLB,” says Sparks. FCM’s board has been working the issue for months and believes property taxes may be the key to finding an answer.
“Currently, a clause in state statute authored by Sen. JD Alexander (Chapter 193 (7)) allows for growers who had trees removed through the canker eradication program to maintain their agricultural tax classification for ‘the duration of such programs or successor programs,’” says Sparks. “Agriculture Commissioner Bronson believes because the Citrus Health Response Program (CHRP) is the ‘successor’ program to canker eradication, the statute is applicable to land owners who remove or kill trees in abandoned groves as recommended by the CHRP,” says Sparks. “In other words, if you kill your trees because of canker and/or greening as recommended by CHRP, you are still eligible for the agriculture exemption.
“After a presentation by Richard Gaskalla, director of the Florida Department of Ag’s Division of Plant Industry, during the Abandoned Grove Committee’s meeting, the committee agreed we may want to strengthen the statute’s language in order to give county property appraisers a firmer foothold to continue to award the agriculture exemption to land owners who have removed or killed citrus trees. As Gaskalla stated, property appraisers contacted within the key citrus-producing counties understand this issue and indicated that clarifying a stronger statutory case for giving the ag exemption to a land owner who kills his citrus trees within the scope of a state or federal program to abate a pest or disease of regulatory significance would be helpful.”
Commercial Acreage Falls
Overall, commercial acreage is down 11% in the state at 576,577 total acres. This is the lowest figure since record keeping began in 1966. Acres declined in 25 of the 30 citrus-producing counties in the state, with Martin County suffering the greatest lost.
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